While extant works have documented public receptivity towards wind turbines extensively in developed democracies, less is known about the transferability of these findings outside the OECD. We examine these claims in China, who leads the world’s wind energy market and faces rising environmental NIMBYism.

Most of the scholarly focus to date has been on large horizontal axis rather than vertical axis wind turbines. It may be possible to improve the efficiency of vertical axis wind technology by deploying turbines in clusters. There might also be advantages to deploying vertical axis turbines at a smaller scale in urban or suburban areas and in places where the risk of bird damage is highest.